By Tony Attwood We first knew something was up when Alan Green, the BBC commentator, suddenly started laying off referees. He’d never suggested there was anything wrong in terms of bias, but constantly reported that they were making mistakes. Lots of mistakes. Lots and lots of mistakes. Lots and lots and… well you get the …
Read More “Our one hope: the media is suddenly realising there is something wrong with refereeing”
For many years Walter Broeckx has headed a team of experts writing for Untold on refereeing. In 2017 he took a long overdue sabbatical… until yesterday, events forced him to return to his subject… 13 Year On By Walter Broeckx In my match reports I promised myself at the start of the season that I …
Read More “13 years on: the match that has never stopped. Referee influence on match results”
By Walter Broeckx A few not so pleasant surprises at the start of the match with the absence of Per in particular one I didn’t want. So we got a starting line up with Cech, Bellerin, Koscielny, Monreal, Kolasinac, Coquelin, Xhaka, Ramsey, Özil, Iwobi, Alexis. Both teams attack in the opening minutes. City with a …
Read More “The live robbery report – Man$hester $ity – Arsenal 3-1, As usuall robbed again…”
By Bulldog Drummond Arsenal injury news: Wenger confirms triple blow, trio to miss Man City clash That headline came from Ron Carne, an interesting variation for him, as his posts often have the word journalist in the headline, in the mistaken belief that if something is said by a journalist it is more likely to …
Read More “Manchester City v Arsenal. The league where Arsenal come bottom.”
by Andrew Crawshaw The mainstream media and blogettas have joined us this year in mentioning referees in advance of Premier League games. Our Officials are :- Referee – Michael Oliver Age 32 from Northumberland and FIFA accredited Assistant Referee 1 – Simon Bennett from Staffordshire and FIFA accredited Assistant Referee 2 – Stuart Burt from …
Read More “Manchester City v Arsenal Sunday 5 November – Media react to the Match Officials”
by Bulldog Drummond While all the newspapers and their lapdogs in the bloggettas are predicting that Arsenal will sell Alexis in January, Arsène Wenger has said that he doesn’t think that will happen and that he anticipates Alexis Sánchez will stay at least til the summer. Of course the fake news outlets are all sticking …
Read More “Why Alexis won’t move to Man C after one Arsenal defeat in the last 9 between the clubs”
By Tony Attwood Certainly if you read many of the web sites on offer at the moment the notion you will get is pretty clear. Arsenal are pretty awful when it comes to playing other top teams in England. These top teams are generally defined as Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, and Tottenham Hotspur …
Read More “Are Arsenal really utterly appalling against other “top clubs”?”
by Tony Attwood Details of the various treatments undergone by Santi Cazorla have started to emerge, and the full extent of the horrific problems he has faced have been revealed – including the possibility of needing an amputation. But it seems all is over and he really is on the road to recovery. He is …
Read More “Santi Cazorla back in January, Mourinho admits the crime, Evra banned, Wenger on City.”
By Tony Attwood From what I saw, (and as with the commentary about Swansea supporters, people in the ground can only report what they saw), the Red Star fans were what away fans should be. Very positive, very noisy, no fighting among themselves, no flares. They didn’t exceed their ticket allocation in the number of …
Read More “Arsenal v Red Star: our kids need playing time but ex Man U players always offer amusement”
By Walter Broeckx Some early nerves with some of the younger players. Macey with a bad kick on a back pass but Holding rescues by making a great block to stop the forward going to the keeper. Elneny with important block on a cross a bit later as Red Star tries to counter the possession …
Read More “Arsenal II – Red Star Belgrade : 0-0”
By Bulldog Drummond So as we get to our final post before the game (given that it will soon be time to jump in the jalopy and gallop off down the M1, what about the jolly old injuries? Well that website that is having a go at challenging our regular reports on injuries, has now …
Read More “Arsenal v Red Star: the Jack conundrum, injuries, Europa records, teams.”
By Bulldog Drummond Supposing someone could read your mind. More than that, could read what you will be thinking in a few moments time. Would that be spooky? If you think so it is it might well be a good idea to lay off the bloggettas for the moment because one of the pop ups …
Read More “Arsenal v Red Star: Lemar, Mahrez, the atmosphere, and the teams first time we met.”
By Tony Attwood All the latest bits and pieces of the day include the rather exciting news that Jose Mourinho is due to be in court on Friday over the issue of tax fraud in Spain. It relates fairly obviously to his time at Real Madrid. The state claims that he owes them just …
Read More “Jose Mourinho in court on Friday, Lacazette leaving.”
By Bulldog Drummond As pointed out by a couple of correspondents very quickly the table below includes the Manchester City game played at Wembley. Sorry that slipped through in the cut and paste job of listing the games. I think that even without that game, there is still a record in the offing – but …
Read More “Arsenal v Red Star: a record at the Emirates approaches.”
By Bulldog Drummond Arsene Wenger has suggested Mathieu Debuchy could stay at Arsenal and play at centre back, which is a position he will probably take up again this Thursday. Given how much playing time he had missed and the fact that he is a full back not a centre back the performance in the …
Read More “Europa game 4. Early thoughts on the team and comparing with Man U’s approach”
By Tony Attwood Olivier Giroud is known in France for all sorts of things. For example, everyone in the country who follows football will agree it was his goals that were fundamental in getting totally unfancied Montpellier to become French champions for the first time in their history. They were also the launch pad for …
Read More “Olivier Giroud: dancer and academic”
By Tony Attwood Each year I tell myself that I am not going to do another analysis of how much the top clubs in the PL spent on transfers and what they have got out of it – mostly because it seems to prove the same thing each year. And then something comes along and …
Read More “How much does it cost to buy a trophy these days?”
By Sir Hardly Anyone We’re not going to publish it but some of the abuse received by Untold following our various commentaries on the match against Swansea was really a little extraordinary and over the top. I mean, we’re used to getting it from some quarters but this was a little out of the …
Read More “Football is facing an existential crisis created by its greed and its insistance on controlling debate”
by Croxley Rebel A game that will certainly not live long in anyone’s memory. The Swans parked the bus and that was Ki to their strategy. After 15 minutes of solid Arsenal pressure, it didn’t Clucas though the Welsh side would pose any sort of threat to the Arsenal goal, but up popped their ginger …
Read More “Arsenal v Swansea: the alternative review.”
By Tony Attwood There is a bloggetta headline this morning that says, “Arsenal are now unlikely to finish in the top four and must prioritise Europa League – study”. I’ve read the “study” thing through but really can’t quite see how it is much of a study – it is in fact a computer model …
Read More “What does Arsenal have to do to improve the club’s present position?”
By Tony Attwood The violence that occurred in the crowd during the Arsenal Swansea match was shocking. It must have been particularly frightening for anyone close by who was not minded to be involved, and is always disturbing to see. But is it news? Obviously not for the BBC coverage and various press reporters in …
Read More “Arsenal v Swansea retrospective. Awful crowd violence”
by Andrew Crawshaw This is a headline I didn’t think I would be able to use and mean it seriously but this week it came true for the Manager of the Women’s team who has left the club with immediate effect. Pedro Martinez Losa joined the club in September 2014 and was released from his …
Read More “Arsenal finally get tough and sack their manager”
By Bulldog Drummond And so to the final part of the match preview… and in case you missed the story thus far here it is Arsenal v Swansea. Mr Wenger on saints, billionaires and celebrity. Arsenal v Swansea City Saturday October 28 – The Match officials – a ref who makes a fool of …
Read More “Arsenal v Swansea: The injuries, the horrible negative approach, the form, the teams”
By Bulldog Drummond To start with the serious stuff – you might recall that at the start of the season we did a review of the supporters and location of virtually every club in the PL and published it day by day on our Facebook page. The whole list is still on this site, but …
Read More “Arsenal v Swansea. Mr Wenger on saints, billionaires and celebrity.”
by Andrew Crawshaw Referee – Lee Mason age 45 from Lancashire Assistant Referee 1 – Harry Lennard from East Sussex Assistant Referee 2 – Derek Eaton from Gloucestershire Fourth Official – Lee Probert age 44 from Wiltshire and FIFA accredited This week marks the quarter way point in the League season and so far so …
Read More “Arsenal v Swansea City Saturday October 28 – The Match officials – a ref who makes a fool of himself”
